Happy after ever
by Jenny-san
Summary: Cinderella falls in love with the prince, they get married, and live happily ever after. Or so it's said. The prince never expected his older brother to get involved.
1. Invitation

Many years ago there lived a beautiful princess. She was the only child of a very powerful king and queen and was coming of age to take over the throne. Human law stated that in order to take the throne, the princess must be wed to someone of royal blood. So, her parents decided to throw a ball and invite every person of royal blood from the areas surrounding the kingdom. It was at this ball that the princess met the unwed youkai king from the next kingdom over. The king had been mated to another youkai for a short time and she bore him one son. However, she died shortly after and the youkai kingdom had no such foolish laws as the human kingdom, so the youkai king had not chosen another mate and had been ruling without his queen for years. However, at the ball the king and the princess fell in love and were wed (and mated) within the next month. The princess became queen and she and her king ruled over both of the kingdoms, joining them in harmony. The queen quickly bore the king yet another son and it was decided that the elder son would rule the youkai kingdom and the younger would rule the human kingdom after the king and queen had passed. That was the story of Inutaisho and Izayoi. This is the story of their children.

"Answer the door!" Kagura called to her serving wench after a knock was heard. After a few moments and no response from her wench, Kagura huffed to herself and slowly glided to the door. She opened the door and curtsied to the man standing outside her door.

"And who might you be?" Kagura asked coldly, raising an eyebrow as she spoke.

"I am Miroku," replied the man, "the king and queen's herald and I have a message for you and all the other residents in this house."

"Oh please, come in," Kagura said and attempted to usher him into her house.

Miroku shook his head and said, "I require only for you to call the other residents to hear my message."

"Well, I'm afraid that is only my daughter, Kikyo. I will get her immediately. Please wait a moment." Kagura left the doorway and gracefully climbed the stairs until she was out of view. She then hurried up the rest of the way and began to scurry from door to door, seeking out her daughter. "Kikyo," she called, "come quickly, the king has sent a messenger!" Upon hearing the news, Kikyo burst out of her bedroom floor and followed her mother back down to the doorway. Unbeknownst to Kagura, the serving wench quietly followed behind them. However, she stayed on the stairs, hidden from view, but close enough to hear the message. When Kikyo and Kagura had reached the doorway, Miroku blew on a horn.

"The queen has sent me to spread an important message regarding her son." Miroku unrolled a scroll and began to read from it. "My son, Inu Yasha has reached the age in which he must soon choose a mate. So, I have decided to throw a ball and invite everyone in the kingdom. The prince will dance with every maiden who so desires a dance and at the end of the night, he will choose the girl he wishes to wed. The ball is a masquerade and each person attending is required to wear a mask. The names of the maidens shall not be revealed until the end of the ball or the maiden forfeits her chances of marrying the prince. This ball will be held in one month at the palace. Signed, Queen Izayoi." Miroku rolled up the scroll and nodded at the women.

"One month! Such a short time away!" exclaimed Kagura. "We must prepare!" With that, Kagura shut the door on Miroku and began to speak with her daughter in regards to the ball. "We must find you a beautiful costume," mentioned Kagura, "one that emphasizes you in all the correct places."

The servant wench remained on the stairs, pondering what Miroku had said. She scrambled to stand up when she saw Kagura and Kikyo at the bottom of the steps.

"What have we here?" Kikyo cackled once she caught the sight of the wench.

The girl scurried down the stairs and fell to her knees once she reached the ground. She grabbed on to the hem of Kagura's skirt and cried out, "Please, step-mother, allow me to go to the ball too. I do not even need to seek the prince's hand, I only wish to see the gowns and taste the food."

Kagura smiled an evil smile. "We shall see child, stand up." The wench obliged and Kagura cupped her chin. "If you perform all of your duties and obey my every word, then I shall allow you to attend the ball. However, you must find a dress to wear on your own. I cannot have you show up in tatters, but I do not have the time or money to help you. Do you understand, Kagome?" The wench smiled and nodded enthusiastically. "Good," continued Kagura, "then return to today's tasks. Oh, and fetch the seamstress from town. Tell her that my daughter and I need beautiful dresses for the ball and to bring everything she has here so that we may find something to wear. Come Kikyo." Kagura walked up the stairs, Kikyo trailing her.

Kagome called after her, "yes step-mother. I shall not disappoint you." Kagura smirked upon hearing this and continued on her way.


	2. Finding the perfect shoes

Author's note: Yay! I made it to chapter two. I realize that I had no intro to the last chapter… heh, I kinda forgot cause I was so excited. Anyways, I would like to make mention that I do not own any of the characters in this story and that I did not, nor will I ever own them. And I'm too lazy to put that disclaimer in every chapter. So here it lies. Also, I stole some of the ideas from Just Ella, Ever After, and the Grimm fairy tales' version of Cinderella. Just putting that out there… One last thing, I added a few of my random ideas, so to those die-hard Cinderella fans, it's not following specifically the classic Disney outline of the story… or even close. Anyway… enjoy.

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Kagome counted the yen in her hand and sighed. The ball was in just two weeks and she still did not have enough for fabric, let alone shoes. She had been scrounging, saving every coin she possibly could. She had picked them off the streets, out of the couches and arm chairs and saved all of the small amount of spending money her step-mother granted her. Yet, she still could not afford to attend the ball. Kagome strolled the streets of the marketplace, searching for the food items that her step-mother had sent her to collect. She glanced in the shops as she walked by, taking in the beauty of the items on display. Kagome passed the glass shop and witnessed an argument breaking out between the shopkeeper and a carpenter.

"I can make anything out of glass and it will hold," boasted the shopkeeper of the glass shop.

"Well, the glass you made for my table proved not to be so sturdy," countered the carpenter.

"Glass is fragile, if you give it a beating, it will not hold no matter the quality of the glass. My earlier comment stands. I can make anything of glass."

"Can you make me glass slippers I can walk in?" Kagome piped in.

"Of course I can," snorted the shopkeeper, "provide me with a real challenge."

"The lady has a point," replied the carpenter, "I bet that you cannot do it." By this time, a small crowd had begun to form. The crowd grew rowdy at the prospect of a bet and began to taunt the glass shopkeeper to take on the carpenter.

"You have yourself a bet," called out the shopkeeper, "1000 yen?"

"Deal," replied the carpenter. He stuck his hand out towards the shopkeeper who in turn roughly grabbed it. The carpenter pointed to Kagome and said, "She begun this, let her walk in the shoes. She must walk the length of your store."

Kagome nodded in agreement. She turned to the shopkeeper and said, "I will, but only if you allow me to keep the shoes if you win."

"Fine," countered the shopkeeper, "When I win, you may keep the shoes. Return here in two hours and your glass shoes will be made." Kagome nodded curtly, then broke away from the crowd. She grinned to herself as she walked away. Two hours was just the amount of time she needed to finish her shopping and then she might have solved her dilemma about finding shoes for the ball.

Kagome returned to the glass shop after she had finished shopping, roughly two hours after the bet had been made. Upon arriving, she found a large group of people wagering on the outcome of the event. Kagome's eyes grew wide as she noticed the amount of people who had come to watch the wager. Nearly the whole marketplace had come to watch. Kagome pushed her way through the crowd to the front so her presence would be noticed by the shopkeeper. He had not yet come out of his shop, but the carpenter had arrived apparently some time ago, according to his body language. Suddenly, the shopkeeper came out of the glass shop.

"The shoes are ready!" he exclaimed dramatically, causing the crowd to cheer. He spotted Kagome and handed her the shoes. Kagome placed her bags and shoes against the shop on one side before allowing the shopkeeper to direct her to the other side of his shop. He whispered in her ear, "The are sturdy, but they are also glass. Do not come down too hard on the heel." Kagome nodded slightly and put on the shoes. The rowdy crowd silenced and watched her as she began to walk along the rough cobblestones. Her appearance was strange for she was dressed in rags and had soiled hair, but she wore the beautiful shoes and held herself with immense grace. Kagome slowly began to walk the width of the store. Her steps were small and she was extremely careful to place her foot softly on the ground. After what seemed to be a painstakingly long time, Kagome reached the other side of the shop. The moment she did, the crowd burst out cheering for the girl who walked on the glass slippers. She smiled and gently took the shoes off, not wanting to damage them after coming so far.

"I'll take those," the shopkeeper said as she took the slippers from her.

"But you said I could keep them if you won," Kagome argued.

"A poor urchin keep prize-winning slippers? I think not," replied the shopkeeper, "I can sell these for a great profit."

"You said that I could keep them if I won the bet for you. So, if I don't get to keep the slippers, then you must not have won," Kagome replied stubbornly.

"Are you trying to cheat the girl?" someone called out from the crowd.

"Well, then I want my money back, and my winnings," called out the carpenter.

"Fine!" the shopkeeper exclaimed, exasperated, "Just take the shoes and get out of my sight!" He shoved the slippers back into Kagome's outstretched arms and skulked into his shop. Kagome gathered her things and put her grungy shoes back on. She smiled and positioned the slippers carefully in her hands so to make sure they did not break. Kagome began to leave when the butcher grabbed her arm.

"Here," he said as he roughly shoved some yen into her hands, "you earned me some money, and since you won me the bet, you should get a little bit of the profit."

"Thank you very much, sir," Kagome said to the butcher, She smiled at him sweetly as he released her before continuing on her way. All in all, it had been a very profitable day for her. She won shoes and had been given more yen which brought her that much closer to her goal of buying luxurious fabric to make a dress out of. Kagome grinned all the way home and would have skipped if not for the delicate glass slippers she was holding.

Upon arriving home, Kagome immediately rushed to her room. Her stepmother allowed her to sleep in a small room, which originally was meant as a closet, that was attached to the kitchen. The room was bare, save for a small bed and an even smaller, two-drawer dresser. Both of the items took up almost all of the floor space in the room, and only enough space was left for the dresser to be opened. Kagome wrapped the shoes in anything she could find, old rags, pieces of clothing, newspaper, so that the shoes might be protected. She opened her nearly empty dresser and placed the shoes in the bottom drawer. Kagome then returned to the kitchen to put away the packages she had purchased.

Almost immediately after she was finished, screams began to echo down the stairs and filled the whole house. Kagome sighed and began to seek the source of the screams. The screams had originated from Kikyo's room and upon entering it a sight befell her eyes. The seamstress had come with Kikyo's new gown for the ball and had attempted to fit Kikyo into it. Kikyo was a bit chubby, for she never had to do anything save for eating. However, she believed herself to be very slim and so had ordered a dress two sizes too small. The seamstress was trying to pull the dress onto Kikyo, but the dress would not budge. Kikyo screamed and cursed at the woman as she tried to fit the dress.

"Enough!" yelled Kagura, "take it off, this is not working." The seamstress nodded and pulled the dress of Kikyo, earning a few more screams. "You are obviously incompetent and could not make the dress to the specifications my Kikyo asked you to. Do it again." With that, Kagura stormed out of the room and into her own.

Kikyo huffed at the seamstress and said, "You heard my mother, do it again. I expect my new dress here in three days. If it is any longer, we will not pay you and we will make certain that you do not receive any work again." With that she shooed the seamstress out of the room. "What are you doing in here?" Kikyo asked Kagome, "go make me some tea and pudding." Kikyo turned her back to Kagome and began to look through her wardrobe for some clothes to put on. Kagome sighed and stepped out of the room, closing the door behind her. She trailed the seamstress down the stairs and was about to turn to go into the kitchen when she heard a sigh emanate from the seamstress.

"There is no way that I can finish all this work in three days. Besides this, I still have the mother's to finish," the seamstress mumbled to herself.

"Perhaps I could help?" Kagome volunteered, "I am handy with a needle and thread and after my step-mother and step-sister go to sleep, I am free to do as I please. I can help you finish the dresses through these nights."

The seamstress perked up and said, "Would you? What would you want for compensation?"

Kagome sighed and said, "I would like to go to the ball, but my stepmother will not get me a dress. So, I am going to buy fabric and sew it myself. However, I do not have enough yen to buy fabric yet. Would you accept the yen I have and my labor in return for fabric to make my gown?"

"Keep your yen, you might need it. I have enough work that your labor alone will be enough to pay off fabric for a gown. I accept you proposition," replied the seamstress.

"Oh, thank you so very much!" cried Kagome, "I will come tonight as soon as my step-mother and step-sister are asleep. Then, I can work until dawn."

The seamstress nodded at her and replied, "That seems fair to me, I shall see you this evening."

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Yay! done with chapter two!

A big thanks to 4get me not for her lone review. XP

I would like to point out that Sesshoumaru will enter the story later. At this point, I'm getting Cinderella to the ball and I'm not going to spoil the story!


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